Men of Valor

These men so brave and bold
Their story is still not fully told.
Of how knee deep in the silt,
They died face down, but not to wilt.
The memory of these valorous men
Shall always be remembered until then.

To those who returned not fully whole,
But who stayed in their slimy trenches like a mole
Until God and man called, up and over they crept
To conquer the enemy and save those of us who wept.
To all the living and the dead who saved our democracy,
We bow in reverence, pride and humility.

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This Poems Story

Having been born in 1942 near the end of World War II, I became so aware of the men and women in our community who had so valiantly given their lives to keep us free. In high school I began to write essays and poetry, which allowed me to express my heart's passion about the world around me. It brought to my remembrance the many years before, standing at the Remembrance Day ceremonies in our community as we solemnly gave honor to our veterans. These memories led me to write "Men of Valor." I so wanted to individually honor our service men. After all these years to have the opportunity to publicly share this poem is such a God given blessing to me!

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”